Matcha wholesale supplier for Vermont

Who we supply in Vermont

Burlington anchors the state's café and co-op scene, with a customer base that reads labels and a cooperative grocery sector that is unusually strong for the population. Stowe and the ski towns bring seasonal high-spend demand, Montpelier and Brattleboro trade steadily, and the state's small-batch food producers form a distinct set of ingredient buyers.

• Burlington cafés and co-ops where sourcing questions come before price questions.
• Ski-town operators in Stowe and the Mad River Valley, sharply seasonal.
• Small-batch food producers using matcha as an ingredient in finished products.
• Independent grocers across the state with strong organic expectations.

Getting matcha from Japan into Vermont

Vermont is served through Boston, or through the Port of NY/NJ and up the Hudson corridor for larger volumes. Burlington handles domestic air freight, with international cargo arriving through Boston or Montreal-adjacent routing for some shippers.

• Ocean: Boston or the Port of NY/NJ, then a road leg north.
• Air: Logan, with a domestic connection or drive into Burlington.
• Onward: the state is long and the roads are slow in winter — plan a single delivery point.

Licensing and compliance on the Vermont side

Federal import requirements apply as everywhere. At state level, the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets oversees food manufacturing and wholesale operations, while the Department of Health licenses food service establishments. Confirm your category before ordering.

• Manufacturing and wholesale sit with the Agency of Agriculture; serving drinks sits with the Department of Health.
• Co-op and grocery listings frequently require organic certification documentation.

Provenance questions you should be able to answer

In Vermont, "Japanese matcha" is not an adequate answer. Buyers here will ask which prefecture, whether it is first harvest, whether it is certified organic, and what the farm actually is — not to be difficult, but because that is how the state's food culture works and because their customers ask them the same questions.

We think that is entirely reasonable, and it is the kind of market a direct-from-Japan supplier should welcome. For every lot we ship we can tell you the region, the cultivar or blend, and the harvest, and where the product is JAS organic we provide the certification chain including the NOP Import Certificate that makes it saleable as organic in the US. If a supplier cannot answer those questions about the specific lot in front of you, that itself is the answer.

How a first Vermont order works

We work backwards from your menu. Send us what you pour in Burlington — the drink, the milk, the sweetener, the cup size — and we'll narrow 56 lots down to the handful worth tasting. Samples ship from Japan, you brew them in your own bar, and only then do we talk quantities and a landed quote for Vermont.

• Start with a tasting set, not a pallet. Nobody should commit to a lot they've only read about.
• Match the lot to the drink. A ceremonial lot for a signature usu-cha, a sturdier one for volume lattes.
• Quotes are landed to Vermont, freight and handling included rather than bolted on later.